Chickens are not only friendly and entertaining, but also productive; they make sure you have a continuous supply of eggs and meat for your barbeque party. Starting your day with a cheesy omelet is the chickens' reward for taking care of them.
While chickens are generally easy to raise and keep, you need to take some protective measures to help them survive through harsh weather conditions; particularly winters as it can be a miserable time for them if left on their own.
They Need To Recover From the Molting Phase
The egg laying capability of hens gets affected during winters as reduced daylight hours make it difficult for them to fully recover from the molting stage; which they go through during the fall season. However, you can make recovering process easier for your chickens by taking few extra measures:
- Extending the daylight time by using light bulb(s) in the chickens' coop is an effective way of stimulating the egg laying phase after your chickens have completed molting.
- Carefully consider the intensity and distribution of artificial light in the coop. A 40 watt bulb is generally advised, but make sure to seek expert advice according to the number of chickens you have and the size of the coop.
You can find heat bulbs and lamps for this purpose here
Be Careful With Regards To Temperature Control
While it is important to provide extra protection/ coverage to your hens to ensure they do not fall ill due to the cold, you need to be careful with this. Providing too much heat/ insulation or shutting off all the ventilation spots can do more harm than good.
Make sure to maintain proper air circulation even during the severe winter season. Failure to do so may result in accumulation of ammonia gas in the chickens coop (from their droppings) that could damage their lungs. Also, by closing all the ventilation points, you are putting your feathered pets at the risk of catching frostbite as a result of humidity buildup.
Make Sure They Stay Dry
Staying dry is one of the essential requirements for staying warm. To ensure that your chickens stay dry and ultimately warm, either protect their coop from rainfall and snow or make it waterproof.
Also, change their bedding often to make sure they do not catch any disease by getting wet.
Maintain a Steady Supply of Water
Keeping an eye on the hens' drinking water is really important if the weather is freezing cold. This is because, there is a strong likelihood that water will freeze and your chickens are left without drinking water.
If left without water for long, the health of your feathered friends will rapidly deteriorate and they can have problems in digestion, egg production and the most important it hinders in their natural way of body temperature regulation.
